Beef and Dairy Cattle Breed Identification and Production Management

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Chapter 18

• Beef and Dairy Cattle Breed Identification and
  Production Management

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Veterinary Terminology

• Bovine
• cattle
• Cow
• adult female
• Bull
• adult male

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Veterinary Terminology

• Steer
• a castrated male
• Heifer
• young female cow, not yet bred
• Herd
• a group of cattle together

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Biology

• Beef cattle
• produced for meat
• increased body size for more meat per cow
• Dairy cattle
• raised for quality milk
• Cows were one of the first domesticated livestock
  species
• Over 1.5 billion cattle in the world

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Breeds

• Vary greatly in size, structure, and color
• Beef breeds
• heavier in appearance and body weight
• Dairy cattle
• more angular in shape
• Dual purpose breeds
• South Devon
• Salers

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Beef Cattle

• Over 95 million beef cattle raised on U.S. farms
• Profit 74 billion a year
• Beef is consumed over 75 billion times a day in
  the U.S. alone
• Demand on industry has increased over time but
  number of cattle producers continues to decrease

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Dairy Cattle

• Over 90,000 dairy farms in U.S.
• A single cow produces 18,000 pounds of milk a
  year
• Demand is on the rise number of dairy cattle is
  decreasing
• Milk one of the most wholesome foods has more
  nutrients than calories

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Breed Selection

• Selecting a quality cow should be based on
• the purpose or use of cow
• the breed
• industry standards placed on cattle

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Beef Cattle

• Selection guidelines
• state the standards of the beef cow and how it is
  chosen for a production program
• Pedigree
• parents breeding lines
• Genetic flaws
• undesired traits passed from one or both parents
  to offspring

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Beef Cattle

• Conformation
• body shape and form
• Must be maintained with proper diet to be
  marketable
• Should be healthy, disease and parasite free

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Dairy Cattle

• Standards based on specific conformation
  requirements
• angular body shape that is rectangular in
  appearance
• lacks muscle mass compared to beef cattle
• Udders mammary glands
• should hold 5070 pounds of milk
• should contain 4 teats

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Dairy Cattle

• Dairy Herd Improvement program (DHI)
• National dairy production testing and
  record-keeping system
• USDA works with dairy farms to obtain information
  to compare local, state, and national herds
• All cattle have permanent ID
• Cows tested every 15-45 days

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Dairy Cattle

• DHI registry required
• Requirements of USDA and breed standards
• Increased testing if milk exceeds the standards
• Records for breed registries
• Used to evaluate sires/bulls

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Culling

• Selecting cattle that should be removed from the
  herd
• Happens when cattle is no longer producing a
  quality product

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Nutrition

• Nutritional requirements depend on product cattle
  is being bred for
• Fed between 34 times a day
• Total mix ration (TMR)
• consists of all the nutrients that cattle need in
  a day

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Lactating Dairy Cows

• Lactating animals require most nutrients
• First 4 months most critical
• need increased calcium and fat (energy)
• Increased protein needed for cows lt 5- years-old
  for growth

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Lactating Dairy Cows

• Body Condition Scoring - BCS
• Scale of 1-5 (1 thin and 5 fat)
• Average should be 2-4
• Peak lactation at 60-90 days 2-2.5
• End of lactation (dry period) 3.5-4

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Feeding Dairy Calves

• First 24 hours
• calves are usually not allowed to nurse from
  their mother after first 24 hours
• colostrum provides natural antibodies
• After 24 hours
• hand fed by bottle
• gradually placed on milk replacer
• 4-6 weeks old
• weaned to solid (starter) food
• 1.5 lbs. daily

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Feeding Dairy Calves

• 5 weeks
• roughage hay or grass source of food
• alfalfa diet high in protein good for
  increasing size of calf
• free choice hay is available at all times
• 6 lbs. daily
• 812 weeks
• grain source should be concentrated with
  supplements to promote continued growth

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Feeding the Dry Cow

• Dry cow period nutrition varies from lactation
  nutrition
• 2-3 weeks place only on good quality hay
• day 25-30 place on grain at 4-7 lbs. per day
• last week increase grain to 7-14 lbs. per day
• Cow will resume lactation feeding once the cow
  has been bred

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Beef Cattle

• Adults typically fed high quality grains or
  pellet-based diets high in protein and fat
• 2-3 lbs. of grain per day
• Free access to hay or pasture
• Calves typically fed in creep feeders
• prevents the adults from consuming all the food

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Behavior

• Scare easily and are difficult to work with once
  frightened
• Will kick, stomp, jump, and trample
• Can cause serious injury to humans
• Are herd animals will go into defensive reaction
  if threatened

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Behavior

• Signs of aggression include
• direct staring with head lowered
• pawing at the ground with front feet
• lowering and shaking the head
• snorting
• short charging motions with the body
• tail swishing quickly

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Basic Training

• Often trained to herd
• Training and herding must be done in a slow, calm
  manner
• Pressure point on shoulder will prompt cow to
  move forward

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Equipment and Housing Needs

• Large amount of pasture
• Barns
• Sheds for weather protection
• Water troughs
• Fenced area
• Fly control
• Salt and mineral blocks

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Housing Needs

• Warm housing
• a heated barn or building facility
• insulated area with dairy stalls for each cow
• Cold housing
• barn or building with no heat
• natural air circulates out moisture
• usually a large open area where herd is kept
  together

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Milking Needs

• Milking stalls
• milking each cow in the area they are housed
• requires a pipeline to transport milk to outside
  bulk tank
• Milking parlors
• specialized areas where cows are milked for
  improved efficiency and sanitation
• floor area known as the pit

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Pasture

• Rotating cattle allows grass to grow
• Also provides sanitation to decrease disease and
  parasites
• Usually rotated every 48 hours

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Feed Storage Needs

• Silos
• tall storage buildings that keep food free of
  moisture
• where grains are typically stored
• can be controlled to feed specific amounts to
  cattle during the day

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Waste Material Systems

• Manure
• cow waste high in nitrogen, phosphorus, and
  potassium
• Solid manure system
• manure is hauled on a daily basis to piles
• low cost
• Liquid manure system
• requires large storage tanks and water pumping
  system
• costly and must meet environmental standards

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Restraint and Handling

• Beef cattle are more difficult to restrain than
  dairy cattle
• handled by less people
• Halter and lead
• used to walk the animal
• Square knot
• easy to make and contain cattle
• easy to untie

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Restraint and Handling

• Pushing
• method of moving animal without the use of hands
• cattle will move away from movement
• Squeeze chute or stanchion
• cage-like structure to prevent cow kicking
• commonly called a head gate

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Restraint and Handling

• Tail switch restraint
• Reefing
• Nose tongs
• Nose ring

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Chute
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Tail Restraint
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Grooming

• Show cattle need to be groomed on regular basis
• given baths
• dried with high powered vacuums
• brushed regularly

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Basic Health Care and Maintenance

• Cattle require specific management and health
  practices because their products are used for
  human consumption
• Herd health manager records all health program
  and production information
• Goal to provide a parasite and disease free herd
• Monitors breeding log, disease programs,
  sanitation programs, pasture control, and proper
  housing and fencing

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Basic Health Care and Maintenance

• Cattle ID methods
• ear tag identification
• neck tag identification
• microchips
• tattoos
• branding
• ear marks
• DNA testing
• nose printing

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Dehorning

• The removal of horns to prevent injury to humans
  and other cattle
• Methods include
• caustic chemical removal
• surgical removal of horn bud
• Must monitor for flies and infection

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Castration

• The surgical removal of the testicles to prevent
  reproduction
• 2 methods
• Banding
• use of a tight rubber band
• causes tissue to slough or fall off
• Surgically
• emasculator

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Vaccinations

• Beef calves
• vaccinated 14-21 days prior to weaning
• Dairy calves
• given boosters at 3-4 months, 5-6 months, then
  yearly as necessary

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Vaccinations

• Common vaccines include
• IBR (Infectious Bovine Rhino-tracheitis)
• BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhea)
• Para influenza (flu)
• Leptospirosis
• Rotavirus
• E.coli
• Rabies

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Common Diseases

• Veterinarians and herd health managers
• work together to determine which diseases and
  parasites are prevalent in an area
• determine what health program to implement
• Major public concern
• Some affect both dairy and beef cattle equally,
  others more prevalent in one type

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Brucellosis

• Bangs disease
• Reproductive disease
• Abortion
• Infertility
• No cure positive animals should be destroyed
• Vaccination for female breeders
• Zoonotic to humans fever

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Bovine Viral Diarrhea

• Fever, diarrhea
• Coughing
• Nasal discharge
• Respiratory problems
• Poor hair coat
• Lameness
• Abortion
• No treatment, virus must run its course

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Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis

• Fever
• Nasal or ocular discharge
• Coughing
• Weight loss
• Convulsions staggering
• Death
• No treatment

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Leptospirosis

• Bacterial infection
• Fever
• Rapid breathing
• Stiffness
• Bloody urine
• Vaccinate 2 times a year

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Campylobacter

• Bacterial infection
• Intestinal disease
• Venereal form more serious
• Infertility
• Abortion
• Erratic heat cycles
• Poor conception
• Vaccinate yearly

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Mastitis

• Inflammation of the mammary gland
• Care costs 200 per cow a year
• Control requires good sanitation of pasture,
  barn, and equipment

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Mastitis

• Good sanitary milking practices
• California Mastitis Test (CMT) lab test to
  measure cell infection
• Treat infection if not responding need to dry
  treat

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Bloat

• Air in stomach
• Distended abdomen caused by rich pasture or
  overfeeding
• Restless

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Bloat

• Stop eating
• Not able to have bowel movement or regurgitate
• Stomachs rotate and are displaced to the left

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Retained Placenta

• Reproductive issue post-labor (post 8 hours)
• Afterbirth has not been expelled
• Signs
• fever, anorexia, low milk production, foul odor
  and discharge from vulva, membrane hanging from
  vulva
• Emergency due to bacterial infection getting into
  bloodstream

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Grass Tetany

• Animal grazing on lush green pastures high in
  nitrogen
• Causes low magnesium and calcium levels
• Causes pain and seizure activity, death
• Occurs more in older cows during lactation
• Feed forage during spring or when using new
  pasture

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Metabolic Disorders in Dairy Cattle

• Cause chemical change in the body
• Usually from stress
• calving
• milking
• changes in nutrition
• changes in environment

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Hypocalcemia

• Milk fever
• Occurs in lactating cows
• Due to low blood calcium
• Can be avoided by providing phosphorus in diet
  and adding vitamin D

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Ketosis

• Low blood sugar
• Signs poor appetite, dull coat, depressed
• Can be secondary nutritional problem to fat cow
  syndrome
• Occurs early in lactation
• Treat with propylene glycol

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Common Parasites

• External flies, mites, mosquitoes, ticks, and
  lice
• Insecticides
• Back rubbers
• Sanitation control
• equipment
• facilities

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Common Parasites

• External
• strongyles
• flatworms
• roundworms
• Signs
• diarrhea
• weight loss
• rough hair coat
• Treated with anthelmintics or dewormers

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Common Surgical Procedures

• Castration - surgical removal of testicles
• Dehorning - surgical removal of horns

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Reproduction and Breeding Beef Cattle

• 3 Primary systems
• Cow-calf
• Back-grounding
• Finishing

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The Cow-Calf System

• Goal to raise cattle and breed them as adults
• Only high quality cows of a specific breed are
  used
• Begin breeding around 2 years of age
• System requires a large amount of land

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The Back-Grounding System

• Goal to raise a calf to market size for profit
• Feedlot size ideal calf size
• Sold for meat

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The Finishing System

• Produces a calf that grows through entire adult
  stage
• Adult cattle sold for profit as either breeding
  animal or for meat
• Market weight 1,100 to 1,300 lbs.
• System is costly and takes longer time for profit
• Profit is much larger

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Reproduction and Breeding of Dairy Cattle

• Cow must be bred for lactation
• Most are producing milk for 305 days
• Gestation cycle 283 days
• milk is produced through this entire phase
• Dry cow period 5060 days
• milk production is stopped

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Reproduction and Breeding of Dairy Cattle

• Milk content
• 87 percent water
• mixture of fat, protein, and sugar nutrients
• Milk produced in udder
• Dairy production is a 24 hour a day job
• long term financial growth possible
• costly investment, many risks

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Reproduction and Breeding of Dairy Cattle

• Size and type of dairy herd varies
• Purebred business
• Commercial business
• Family size herd
• Large size herd
• Milking herd
• Total herd